About 16.00 hours on 29 June 1944 the Empire Portia (Master Thomas Kirby Suttie) in convoy FTM-22 was badly damaged by an explosion off Selsey Bill. The vessel was taken in tow by HMS LST-416, but the tow parted and she grounded with a broken back on Peel Bank near Ryde, Isle of Wight. The forward section was towed to Falmouth, the aft section to Briton Ferry, South Wales and subsequently broken up. The master and 41 crew members were saved, but five crew members were lost.

Revisions

October 2015 by Rainer Kolbicz: The discovery of the wreck of U-988 showed that it could not have been responsible for the damage of Empire Portia. It is presently not known if the ship was torpedoed or mined.